e at Trevoux, on the left bank of the Saone. On a sloping
hill, down to the water-side, rises an amphitheatre, crowned with an
ancient Gothic castle, in venerable ruin; under it is the small town of
Trevoux, well known for its Journal and Dictionary, which latter is
almost an encyclopaedia, as _there are few things of which something is
not said in that most valuable compilation_, and the whole was printed
at Trevoux. The knowledge of this circumstance greatly enhances the
delight of any visitor who has consulted the book, and is acquainted
with its merit; and must add much to his local pleasures."

A work from which every man of letters may be continually deriving such
varied knowledge, and which is little known but to the most curious
readers, claims a place in these volumes; nor is the history of the work
itself without interest. Eight large folios, each consisting of a
thousand closely printed pages, stand like a vast mountain, of which,
before we climb, we may be anxious to learn the security of the passage.
The history of dictionaries is the most mutable of all histories; it is
a picture of the inconstancy of the knowledge of man; the learning of
one generation passes away with another; and a dictionary of this kind
is always to be repaired, to be rescinded, and to be enlarged.

The small town of Trevoux gave its name to an excellent literary
journal, long conducted by the Jesuits, and to this dictionary--as
Edinburgh has to its Critical Review and Annual Register, &c. It first
came to be distinguished as a literary town from the Duc du Maine, as
prince sovereign of Dombes,[154] transferring to this little town of
Trevoux not only his parliament and other public institutions, but also
establishing a magnificent printing-house, in the beginning of the last
century. The duke, probably to keep his printers in constant employ,
instituted the "_Journal de Trevoux_;" and this perhaps greatly tended
to bring the printing-house into notice, so that it became a favourite
with many good writers, who appear to have had no other connexion with
the place; and this dictionary borrowed its first title, which it always
preserved, merely from the place where it was printed. Both the journal
and the dictionary were, however, consigned to the care of some learned
Jesuits; and perhaps the place always indicated the principles of the
writers, of whom none were more eminent for elegant literature than the
Jesuits.[155]

The first edi